TULIP TREE. 



LIRIODENDRUM. 



MAONOLIACE^E. POLYANDRIA POLYGYNIA. 



The botanical name signifies lily tree ; the tree bearing liliaceous 

 flowers. It is called by our English gardeners tulip tree. French, 

 tulipier ; Italian, tulipifero. 



THE Tulip tree, Liriodendrum tulipifera, is a na- 

 tive of North America, where it grows to a great size, 

 and is generally known in the English settlements by 

 the title of Poplar. When it was first brought to this 

 country, and for some time afterwards, it was planted in 

 pots, and housed in winter with myrtles, oranges, &c. 

 from a notion that it could not bear the open air ; and 

 thus treated, it grew but slowly : the first tree of the 

 kind which bore flowers here was in the gardens of the 

 Earl of Peterborough, at Parson's Green, near Fulham. 

 It was there planted among other trees in a wilderness ; 

 and by the great progress it made, soon convinced the 

 gardeners of their mistake in treating it so tenderly. 

 From that time, they have been planted abroad, where 

 they grow to a considerable size, especially where the 

 soil is rather moist. This tree at Parson's Green has 

 afforded much knowledge to the gardeners, as well in its 

 death as in its life ; for though planted in the open air, the 

 neighbouring trees were suffered to overhang it, to shelter 

 it from the wind ; these trees robbed it of its nourishment, 

 and in the end destroyed it. 



